Cutting plates which, together with a shaft-like holding device connected to a drive spindle or to a non-rotating machine support which may be controlled to execute adjustment movements, form a rotating or non-rotating machine tool. DE 34 48 086 C2, for example, discloses a tool of this kind for inside machining. Such tools are widely used for machining processes which must be executed with high precision. To ensure adherence to correspondingly narrow tolerances, it is extremely important to achieve strict coordination of cutting plate and the holding device corresponding to it. In other words, care must be taken to make certain that a particular holding device only mounts cutting plates having bodies with coupling components adapted with precision to the geometry of the seat on the holding device. Consequently, to ensure optimal machining results, the user must take great care to ensure that the only cutting plates used with a given holding device are ones which belong to an associated type classification meeting the corresponding specifications provided by the manufacturer for the cutting plate and the holding device. Even if the user does pay careful attention to this point, the possibility nevertheless exists that cutting plates not provided or intended for use with a particular holding device may be mounted on an inappropriate holding device.